E X O D U S

CHAP. XIX.

This chapter introduces the solemnity of the
giving of the law upon Mount Sinai, which was one of the most
striking appearances of the divine glory that ever was in this
lower world. We have here, I. The circumstances of time and place,
ver. 1, 2. II. The
covenant between God and Israel settled in general. The gracious
proposal God made to them (ver.
3-6), and their consent to the proposal, ver. 7, 8. III. Notice given three
days before of God's design to give the law out of a thick cloud,
ver. 9. Orders given to
prepare the people to receive the law (ver. 10-13), and care taken to execute
those orders, ver. 14,
15. IV. A terrible appearance of God's glory upon mount
Sinai, ver. 16-20. V.
Silence proclaimed, and strict charges given to the people to
observe decorum while God spoke to them, ver. 21, &c.

The Covenant of Sinai. (b. c. 1491.)

1 In the third month, when the children of
Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came
they into the wilderness of Sinai. 2 For they were
departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of
Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped
before the mount. 3 And Moses went up unto God, and the
Lord called unto him out of the
mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and
tell the children of Israel; 4 Ye have seen what I did unto
the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and
brought you unto myself. 5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my
voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar
treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is
mine: 6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an
holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto
the children of Israel. 7 And Moses came and called for the
elders of the people, and laid before their faces all these words
which the Lord commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together, and said, All that the
Lord hath spoken we will do. And
Moses returned the words of the people unto the Lord.

Here is, I. The date of that great charter
by which Israel was incorporated. 1. The time when it bears date
(v. 1)—in the
third month after they came out of Egypt. It is computed that
the law was given just fifty days after their coming out of Egypt,
in remembrance of which the feast of Pentecost was observed the
fiftieth day after the passover, and in compliance with which the
Spirit was poured out upon the apostles at the feast of pentecost,
fifty days after the death of Christ. In Egypt they had spoken of a
three days' journey into the wilderness to the place of their
sacrifice (ch. v. 3),
but it proved to be almost a two months' journey; so often are we
out in the calculation of times, and things prove longer in the
doing than we expected. 2. The place whence it bears date—from
Mount Sinai, a place which nature, not art, had made eminent
and conspicuous, for it was the highest in all that range of
mountains. Thus God put contempt upon cities, and palaces, and
magnificent structures, setting up his pavilion on the top of a
high mountain, in a waste and barren desert, there to carry on this
treaty. It is called Sinai, from the multitude of thorny
bushes that overspread it.

II. The charter itself. Moses was called up
the mountain (on the top of which God had pitched his tent, and at
the foot of which Israel had pitched theirs), and was employed as
the mediator, or rather no more than the messenger of the covenant:
Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children
of Israel, v. 3.
Here the learned bishop Patrick observes that the people are called
by the names both of Jacob and Israel, to remind them
that those who had lately been as low as Jacob when he went to
Padan-aram had now grown as great as God made him when he came
thence (justly enriched with the spoils of him that had oppressed
him) and was called Israel. Now observe, 1. That the maker,
and first mover, of the covenant, is God himself. Nothing was said
nor done by this stupid unthinking people themselves towards this
settlement; no motion made, no petition put up for God's favour,
but this blessed charter was granted ex mero motu—purely out of
God's own good-will. Note, In all our dealings with God, free
grace anticipates us with the blessings of goodness, and all our
comfort is owing, not to our knowing God, but rather to our being
known of him, Gal. iv.
9. We love him, visit him, and covenant with him,
because he first loved us, visited us, and covenanted with
us. God is the Alpha, and therefore must be the Omega. 2. That the
matter of the covenant is not only just and unexceptionable, and
such as puts no hardship upon them, but kind and gracious, and such
as gives them the greatest privileges and advantages imaginable.
(1.) He reminds them of what he had done for them, v. 4. He had righted them, and
avenged them upon their persecutors and oppressors: "You have
seen what I did unto the Egyptians, how many lives were
sacrificed to Israel's honour and interests:" He had given them
unparalleled instances of his favour to them, and his care of them:
I bore you on eagles' wings, a high expression of the
wonderful tenderness God had shown for them. It is explained,
Deut. xxxii. 11, 12. It
denotes great speed. God not only came upon the wing for their
deliverance (when the set time was come, he rode on a cherub, and
did fly), but he hastened them out, as it were, upon the wing. He
did it also with great ease, with the strength as well as with the
swiftness of an eagle: those that faint not, nor are weary, are
said to mount up with wings as eagles, Isa. xl. 31. Especially, it denotes God's
particular care of them and affection to them. Even Egypt, that
iron furnace, was the nest in which these young ones were hatched,
where they were first formed as the embryo of a nation; when, by
the increase of their numbers, they grew to some maturity, they
were carried out of that nest. Other birds carry their young in
their talons, but the eagle (they say) upon her wings, so that even
those archers who shoot flying cannot hurt the young ones, unless
they first shoot through the old one. Thus, in the Red Sea, the
pillar of cloud and fire, the token of God's presence, interposed
itself between the Israelites and their pursuers (lines of defence
which could not be forced, a wall which could not be penetrated):
yet this was not all; their way so paved, so guarded, was glorious,
but their end much more so: I brought you unto myself. They
were brought not only into a state of liberty and honour, but into
covenant and communion with God. This, this was the glory of their
deliverance, as it is of ours by Christ, that he died, the just
for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. This God aims at
in all the gracious methods of his providence and grace, to bring
us back to himself, from whom we have revolted, and to bring us
home to himself, in whom alone we can be happy. He appeals to
themselves, and their own observation and experience, for the truth
of what is here insisted on: You have seen what I did; so
that they could not disbelieve God, unless they would first
disbelieve their own eyes. They saw how all that was done was
purely the Lord's doing. It was not they that reached towards God,
but it was he that brought them to himself. Some have well observed
that the Old-Testament church is said to be borne upon
eagles' wings, denoting the power of that dispensation, which was
carried on with a high hand an out-stretched arm; but the
New-Testament church is said to be gathered by the Lord
Jesus, as a hen gathers her chickens under her wings
(Matt. xxiii. 37), denoting
the grace and compassion of that dispensation, and the admirable
condescension and humiliation of the Redeemer. (2.) He tells them
plainly what he expected and required from them in one word,
obedience (v. 5),
that they should obey his voice indeed and keep his
covenant. Being thus saved by him, that which he insisted upon
was that they should be ruled by him. The reasonableness of this
demand is, long after, pleaded with them, that in the day he
brought them out of the land of Egypt this was the condition of
the covenant, Obey my voice (Jer. vii. 23); and this he is said to protest
earnestly to them, Jer. xi. 4,
7. Only obey indeed, not in profession and
promise only, not in pretence, but in sincerity. God had shown them
real favours, and therefore required real obedience. (3.) He
assures them of the honour he would put upon them, and the kindness
he would show them, in case they did thus keep his covenant
(v. 5, 6): Then
you shall be a peculiar treasure to me. He does not specify any
one particular favour, as giving them the land of Canaan, or the
like, but expresses it in that which was inclusive of all
happiness, that he would be to them a God in covenant, and they
should be to him a people. [1.] God here asserts his sovereignty
over, and propriety in, the whole visible creation: All the
earth is mine. Therefore he needed them not; he that had so
vast a dominion was great enough, and happy enough, without
concerning himself for so small a demesne as Israel was. All
nations on the earth being his, he might choose which he pleased
for his peculiar, and act in a way of sovereignty. [2.] He
appropriates Israel to himself, First, As a people dear unto
him. You shall be a peculiar treasure; not that God was
enriched by them, as a man is by his treasure, but he was pleased
to value and esteem them as a man does his treasure; they were
precious in his sight and honourable (Isa. xliii. 4); he set his love upon
them (Deut. vii. 7), took
them under his special care and protection, as a treasure that is
kept under lock and key. He looked upon the rest of the world but
as trash and lumber in comparison with them. By giving them divine
revelation, instituted ordinances, and promises inclusive of
eternal life, by sending his prophets among them, and pouring out
his Spirit upon them, he distinguished them from, and dignified
them above, all people. And this honour have all the saints; they
are unto God a peculiar people (Tit. ii. 14), his when he makes up his
jewels. Secondly, As a people devoted to him, to his honour and
service (v. 6), a
kingdom of priests, a holy nation. All the
Israelites, if compared with other people, were priests unto God,
so near were they to him (Ps.
cxlviii. 14), so much employed in his immediate service,
and such intimate communion they had with him. When they were first
made a free people it was that they might sacrifice to the Lord
their God, as priests; they were under God's immediate
government, and the tendency of the laws given them was to
distinguish them from others, and engage them for God as a holy
nation. Thus all believers are, through Christ, made to our God
kings and priests (Rev. i.
6), a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,1 Pet. ii. 9.

III. Israel's acceptance of this charter,
and consent to the conditions of it. 1. Moses faithfully delivered
God's message to them (v.
7): He laid before their faces all those words;
he not only explained to them what God had given him in charge, but
he put it to their choice whether they would accept these promises
upon these terms or no. His laying it to their faces denotes his
laying it to their consciences. 2. They readily agreed to the
covenant proposed. They would oblige themselves to obey the voice
of God, and take it as a great favour to be made a kingdom of
priests to him. They answered together as one man, nemine
contradicente—without a dissentient voice (v. 8): All that the Lord hath spoken
we will do. Thus they strike the bargain, accepting the Lord to
be to them a God, and giving up themselves to be to him a people. O
that there had been such a heart in them! 3. Moses, as a mediator,
returned the words of the people to God, v. 8. Thus Christ, the Mediator between
us and God, as a prophet reveals God's will to us, his precepts and
promises, and then as a priest offers up to God our spiritual
sacrifices, not only of prayer and praise, but of devout affections
and pious resolutions, the work of his own Spirit in us. Thus he is
that blessed days-man who lays his hand upon us both.

The Approach of God
Announced. (b. c. 1491.)

9 And the Lord
said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the
people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever.
And Moses told the words of the people unto the Lord. 10 And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and
sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their
clothes, 11 And be ready against the third day: for the
third day the Lord will come down in
the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai. 12 And thou
shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to
yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or
touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be
surely put to death: 13 There shall not an hand touch it,
but he shall surely be stoned, or shot through; whether it
be beast or man, it shall not live: when the trumpet soundeth
long, they shall come up to the mount. 14 And Moses went
down from the mount unto the people, and sanctified the people; and
they washed their clothes. 15 And he said unto the people,
Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.

Here, I. God intimates to Moses his purpose
of coming down upon Mount Sinai, in some visible appearance of his
glory, in a thick cloud (v. 9); for he said that he would
dwell in the thick darkness (2
Chron. vi. 1), and make this his pavilion (Ps. xviii. 11), holding back the
face of his throne when he set it upon Mount Sinai, and
spreading a cloud upon it, Job
xxvi. 9. This thick cloud was to prohibit curious
enquiries into things secret, and to command an awful adoration of
that which was revealed. God would come down in the sight of all
the people (v.
11); though they should see no manner of similitude, yet
they should see so much as would convince them that God was among
them of a truth. And so high was the top of Mount Sinai that it is
supposed that not only the camp of Israel, but even the countries
about, might discern some extraordinary appearance of glory upon
it, which would strike a terror upon them. It seems also to have
been particularly intended to put an honour upon Moses: That
they may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for
ever, v. 9. Thus
the correspondence was to be first settled by a sensible appearance
of the divine glory, which was afterwards to be carried on more
silently by the ministry of Moses. In like manner, the Holy Ghost
descended visibly upon Christ at his baptism, and all that were
present heard God speak to him (Matt.
iii. 17), that afterwards, without the repetition of
such visible tokens, they might believe him. So likewise the Spirit
descended in cloven tongues upon the apostles (Acts ii. 3), that they might be believed.
Observe, When the people had declared themselves willing to obey
the voice of God, then God promised they should hear his voice;
for, if any man be resolved to do his will, he shall know
it, John vii. 17.

II. He orders Moses to make preparation for
this great solemnity, giving him two days' time for it.

1. He must sanctify the people
(v. 10), as Job,
before this, sent and sanctified his sons, Job i. 5. He must raise their
expectation by giving them notice what God would do, and assist
their preparation by directing them what they must do. "Sanctify
them," that is, "Call them off from their worldly business, and
call them to religious exercises, meditation and prayer, that they
may receive the law from God's mouth with reverence and devotion.
Let them be ready," v.
11. Note, When we are to attend upon God in solemn
ordinances it concerns us to sanctify ourselves, and to get ready
beforehand. Wandering thoughts must be gathered in, impure
affections abandoned, disquieting passions suppressed, nay, and all
cares about secular business, for the present, dismissed and laid
by, that our hearts may be engaged to approach unto God. Two
things particularly prescribed as signs and instances of their
preparation:—(1.) In token of their cleansing themselves from all
sinful pollutions, that they might be holy to God, they must
wash their clothes (v.
10), and they did so (v. 14); not that God regards our
clothes; but while they were washing their clothes he would have
them think of washing their souls by repentance from the sins they
had contracted in Egypt and since their deliverance. It becomes us
to appear in clean clothes when we wait upon great men; so clean
hearts are required in our attendance on the great God, who sees
them as plainly as men see our clothes. This is absolutely
necessary to our acceptably worshipping God. See Ps. xxvi. 6; Isa. i. 16-18; Heb. x.
22. (2.) In token of their devoting themselves entirely
to religious exercises, upon this occasion, they must abstain even
from lawful enjoyments during these three days, and not come at
their wives, v.
15. See 1 Cor. vii.
5.

2. He must set bounds about the
mountain, v. 12,
13. Probably he drew a line, or ditch, round at the foot
of the hill, which none were to pass upon pain of death. This was
to intimate, (1.) That humble awful reverence which ought to
possess the minds of all those that worship God. We are mean
creatures before a great Creator, vile sinners before a holy
righteous Judge; and therefore a godly fear and shame well become
us, Heb. xii. 28; Ps. ii.
11. (2.) The distance at which worshippers were kept,
under that dispensation, which we ought to take notice of, that we
may the more value our privilege under the gospel, having
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,Heb. x. 19.

3. He must order the people to attend upon
the summons that should be given (v. 13): "When the trumpet soundeth
long then let them take their places at the foot of the mount,
and so sit down at God's feet," as it is explained, Deut. xxxiii. 3. Never was so great a
congregation called together, and preached to, at once, as this was
here. No one man's voice could have reached so many, but the voice
of God did.

The Divine Presence on Mount
Sinai. (b. c. 1491.)

16 And it came to pass on the third day in the
morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud
upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so
that all the people that was in the camp trembled. 17
And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with
God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. 18 And
Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke
thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount
quaked greatly. 19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded
long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered
him by a voice. 20 And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of
the mount: and the Lord called Moses
up to the top of the mount; and Moses went up. 21 And
the Lord said unto Moses, Go down,
charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish. 22
And let the priests also, which come near to the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break forth upon them. 23 And Moses
said unto the Lord, The people
cannot come up to Mount Sinai: for thou chargedst us, saying, Set
bounds about the mount, and sanctify it. 24 And the Lord said unto him, Away, get thee down,
and thou shalt come up, thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the
priests and the people break through to come up unto the Lord, lest he break forth upon them.
25 So Moses went down unto the people, and spake unto
them.

Now, at length, comes that memorable day,
that terrible day of the Lord, that day of judgment, in which
Israel heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them
out of the midst of the fire, and lived, Deut. iv. 33. Never was there such a sermon
preached, before nor since, as this which was here preached to the
church in the wilderness. For,

I. The preacher was God himself (v. 18): The Lord descended
in fire, and (v.
20), The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai. The
shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of
all the people; he shone forth from mount Paran with ten
thousands of his saints (Deut.
xxxiii. 2), that is, attended, as the divine Majesty
always is, by a multitude of the holy angels, who were both to
grace the solemnity and to assist at it. Hence the law is said to
be given by the disposition of angels, Acts vii. 53.

II. The pulpit (or throne rather) was mount
Sinai, hung with a thick cloud (v. 16), covered with smoke
(v. 18), and made to
quake greatly. Now it was that the earth trembled at the
presence of the Lord, and the mountains skipped like
rams (Ps. cxiv. 4, 7),
that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, melted from before
the Lord God of Israel, Judg. v.
5. Now it was that the mountains saw him, and
trembled (Hab. iii.
10), and were witnesses against a hard-hearted unmoved
people, whom nothing would influence.

III. The congregation was called together
by the sound of a trumpet, exceedingly loud (v. 16), and waxing louder
and louder, v.
19. This was done by the ministry of the angels, and we
read of trumpets sounded by angels, Rev.
viii. 6. It was the sound of the trumpet that made
all the people tremble, as those who knew their own guilt, and
who had reason to expect that the sound of this trumpet was to them
the alarm of war.

IV. Moses brought the hearers to the place
of meeting, v. 17.
He that had led them out of the bondage of Egypt now led them to
receive the law from God's mouth. Public persons are indeed public
blessings when they lay out themselves in their places to promote
the public worship of God. Moses, at the head of an assembly
worshipping God, was as truly great as Moses at the head of an army
in the field.

V. The introductions to the service were
thunders and lightnings, v. 16. These were designed to strike
an awe upon the people, and to raise and engage their attention.
Were they asleep? The thunders would awaken them. Were they looking
another way? The lightnings would engage them to turn their faces
towards him that spoke to them. Thunder and lightning have natural
causes, but the scripture directs us in a particular manner to take
notice of the power of God, and his terror, in them. Thunder is the
voice of God, and lightning the fire of God, proper to engage the
senses of sight and hearing, those senses by which we receive so
much of our information.

VI. Moses is God's minister, who is spoken
to, to command silence, and keep the congregation in order:
Moses spoke, v.
19. Some think it was now that he said, I exceedingly
fear and quake (Heb. xii.
21); but God stilled his fear by his distinguishing
favour to him, in calling him up to the top of the mount (v. 20), by which also he tried
his faith and courage. No sooner had Moses got up a little way
towards the top of the mount than he was sent down again to keep
the people from breaking through to gaze, v. 21. Even the priests or princes,
the heads of the houses of their fathers, who officiated for their
respective families, and therefore are said to come near to the
Lord at other times, must now keep their distance, and conduct
themselves with a great deal of caution. Moses pleads that they
needed not to have any further orders given them, effectual care
being taken already to prevent any intrusions, v. 23. But God, who knew their
wilfulness and presumption, and what was now in the hearts of some
of them, hastens him down with this in charge, that neither the
priests nor the people should offer to force the lines that were
set, to come up unto the Lord, but Moses and Aaron on, the
men whom God delighted to honour. Observe, 1. What it was that God
forbade them—breaking through to gaze; enough was provided to
awaken their consciences, but they were not allowed to gratify
their vain curiosity. They might see, but not gaze. Some of them,
probably, were desirous to see some similitude, that they might
know how to make an image of God, which he took care to prevent,
for they saw no manner of similitude, Deut. iv. 5. Note, In divine things we must not
covet to know more than God would have us know; and he has allowed
us as much as is good for us. A desire of forbidden knowledge was
the ruin of our first parents. Those that would be wise above what
is written, and intrude into those things which they have not seen,
need this admonition, that they break not through to gaze.
2. Under what penalty it was forbidden: Lest the Lord break
forth upon them (v.
22-24), and many of them perish. Note, (1.) The
restraints and warnings of the divine law are all intended for our
good, and to keep us out of that danger into which we should
otherwise, by our own folly, run ourselves. (2.) It is at our peril
if we break the bounds that God has set us, and intrude upon that
which he has not allowed us; the Bethshemites and Uzzah paid dearly
for their presumption. And, even when we are called to approach
God, we must remember that he is in heaven and we upon earth, and
therefore it behoves us to exercise reverence and godly fear.